Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection September 30, 2024

By CL

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Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection September 30, 2024

R/. Lord, turn your ear to me; hear my words.

V/. Alleluia

R/. Alleluia

V/. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

R/. Alleluia.

At that time: An argument arose among disciples as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among all of you is the one who is great.” John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

1. The desire and the pursuit for greatness is nothing new. It has been perennial. Everyone seeks to be great. There is nothing wrong with the desire itself. But what goes wrong is the way people understand greatness and the ways and means they employ to obtain it.

2. Basically when the very concept and idea itself goes wrong, then the process of the means also will go wrong. This is one big problem of today’s world. Many think wrongly of greatness.

3. They reduce it to mere quantity and number and not quality. They equate it to mere having and doing. What does this mean? That is, to be great is to have lots of money, capabilities, possessions, comfort, power, position, and influence. It is to do lots of things, activities, and accomplishments.

4. This is a wrong conception of greatness. This is worldly and entirely contrary to the conception of true greatness. This is not compatible with the teaching of Jesus. Jesus teaches us today what is true greatness. He corrects the worldly thinking and craving for greatness of his disciples who were engaged in a serious argument about who was the greatest.

5. For this corrective, he sets a child as the reference point. First, he takes a child and puts him “by his side”. This indicates that to be great is to be “by the side” of Jesus and “on his side”. That is to be great is to be in company and closeness with Jesus. It also means to support and continue the mission of Jesus.

6. Then, to be great is to be able to “receive a child in Jesus’ name”. It implies that we should not go by external impressions or labels or calculations. For, a child usually does not commend much respect and honour.

7. A child is not taken so seriously. But a truly great person respects even the small and insignificant and accepts such persons gladly because he does it in the Lord’s name and not from a human perspective.

8. Further, to be truly great is “to be least among all”. Humility is the greatest mark of true greatness. Greatness does not show off and does not dominate or override others. Greatness is not puffed up with haughty eyes and an arrogant heart. The more one is high, the more he lies low.

9. Still further, true greatness also implies not being jealous or negatively competitive, or suppressive of the growth of others. The disciples stop someone from casting demons in Jesus’ name because he did not belong to their group. But Jesus tells them not to stop him because after all he is not against Jesus and he is only doing good in his name.

10. The message of greatness becomes very strong and clear in the first reading in the example of Job. True greatness is faith and faithfulness. Job did not lose his faith or did not turn away from his faithfulness even when he was tested. He lost all his property and children as well. He was reduced to utter misery. Yet he persisted to be blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

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